WW2 Armor

Now hear this! When it comes to Armor, there are always trade-offs in protection, mobility, and firepower; pick two! However, there are also many factors that don't show up on paper, such as reliability, crew ergonomics/fatigue, fuel consumption, ability to spot and acquire enemy targets quickly and accurately, and the ability to meet many various threat sources, from mines, fortifications, anti-tank guns, rockets, enemy infantry, and of course enemy armor. That's why many armies in WW2 fielded specialized designs to help excel in a couple of these areas at the expense of others. If asked to perform a role it wasn't suited for, an AFV can quickly become an expensive wasted investment that is now a burned-out hulk. The trick is to play to your vehicle's strengths while forcing the enemy's vehicle to perform in a role it isn't best suited for... and preventing them from doing the same to you! That is all.

Now hear this! Our 2nd Annual John P. Thomas Memorial Volusia Valor Days event in DeLand, Florida is only two and a half short months away! We are excited to announce our featured guest speaker for the event! Please join us in welcoming our good friend from England, James Holland (@James1940), to Volusia Valor Days 2025! James is a well-known and respected World War II historian, author, digital creator, and co-host of WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk podcast (@WeHaveWaysPod). Some may recall, James joined us at D-Day Conneaut 2023 in northern Ohio where he talked about Operation Overlord and the British/Canadian armour that landed on the Normandy beaches on Jun. 6, 1944. If you missed his podcast episodes from D-Day Conneaut and our video with him we will post the links below. For Volusia Valor Days 2025, our World War II living history and reenactment focus is the Italian Campaign in 1944, a slice of what it may have been like during the breakout of Anzio and the road to Rome in May-June 1944. James' last two publications, "Cassino 44" and "The Savage Storm" describe the brutal Italian campaign and the liberation of Rome, thus adding a dimension of deep understanding to the theme we'll demonstrate under. That is all.

Now view this! We are two weeks away until the annual D-Day reenactment in Conneaut, Ohio August 15-17, 2024! This year's event will be honoring the 80th Anniversary of Operation Overlord and the liberation of Western Europe. We often share videos from the view point from the U.S. armored crew perspective, but how about from the German perspective with armor advancing and engaging towards their position? Experience the view of our German MG42 machine gun crew defending their sector on Omaha Beach during the D-Day Conneaut 2023 reenactment of the Jun. 6, 1944 Normandy beach landings as the armor, representing elements of the 741st and 743rd Tank Battalions, advanced up the beach. Our video team enhanced the effects as you can see to give the viewers a more realistic feel. To go along with this short video clip we’ll share an excerpt from Staff Sergeant Fair’s, a tank commander with A Company 741st Tank Battalion, report of his tank’s landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day whom his tank and crew were delivered directly on the beach with two other M4 Sherman crews (one with a dozer) by Landing Craft Tank #2425: “[We were] supposed to land at 0630 hours about two hundred yards right of Exit-3, but due to weather conditions and other landing craft we beached at Exit-1 near to 743d Tank Battalion. The ramp was dropped in pretty deep water and we left the craft. I was in No. 1 tank, Sergeant Larsen No. 2 tank, and the dozer No. 3. The water was up over our turret ring. We finally pulled up on the beach but still stayed in the water enough for protection. Our bow gunner and gunner started spraying the trees and hillside with .30-cal. while, not helped by the snipers and shrapnel, we looked for antitank guns and pillboxes. It wasn't long until we spotted one, which no doubt was a machine-gun emplacement. I put my gunner on it and he fired. His first shots went low, but after the correction was made the next shots entered straight through the opening and put it out of action.” When the U.S. forces landed on Omaha Beach on Jun. 6, 1944, aside from the beach obstacles the beach and water was heavily mined. In addition, there were 13 Widerstandsnester (“resistance nests”) strong-points and a widespread trench system across the 6-mile (10km) beach. Aside from the anti-tank guns and mortars firing down on the landing U.S. troops, approximately 85 German machine gun nests, although not all were crewed, were spread throughout the beach firing MG42s and MG34s. That is all.

Now hear this! On the 80th Anniversary of the Allied Forces' Operation Overlord, the liberation of France and western Europe, which occurred on Jun. 6, 1944, we share a unique wartime film that centers around the Duplex Drive, or DD for short, tank that played a significant role during the invasion to help get Allied armor ashore. While some sectors and units had difficult times due to high wind and swells, others were quite successful at swimming their tanks ashore across the five beachheads. On Nov. 17, 1943, the commander of European Theater of Operations U.S. Army, Lt. General Jacob Devers attended a demonstration of the Duplex Drive tank to gain his support to increase the priority of the production of these tanks needed for the amphibious assault for Operation Overlord. Devers concurred with his staff that these tanks were needed for the operation and immediately needed to be produced as the operation was nearly eight months away. He immediately sent an urgent dispatch to the Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, concurred and the DD tank conversion program was given a Priority AAA rating. Firestone Tire & Rubber Company was selected for the M4A1 Sherman DD tank development, a total of 350 units were contracted for production. They began the production of a test M4A1 DD tank on January 22 and it was completed the next day. As more DD Shermans arrived in theater through March 1944, two companies of each of the three U.S. tank battalions (70th, 741st, 743rd) that were selected to lead the amphibious assault began training at Slapton Islands. These units conducted about 1,200 test launches from landing craft from mid-March through April on a restricted beach in order to maintain the secrecy of the Allied DD tank development. Despite heavy losses of the two DD Sherman tank companies of the 741st Tank Battalion at Omaha Beach due to heavy winds and waves that exceeded the capability of the DD tank's canvas and strut capability, the DD tanks proved to be an effective amphibious assault capability for the Allied forces on the remainder four beaches. A total of 290 DD Shermans were deployed in support of the amphibious invasion of Operation Overlord by the American, English, and Canadian armies on June 6, 1944. Approximately 120 of the 290 (~41%) were actually launched at sea, and 42 of the 120 (35%) that were launched sank while en-route to their respective sectors along the Normandy coastline. The remaining 170 DD Shermans were delivered directly on or near the beaches in shallow water. Following the Normandy liberation, on August 15, 1944 the DD tanks led an amphibious invasion in southern France in support of Operation Dragoon with great success. As the war progressed in Europe, DD tanks continued to see service in various water crossings throughout the ETO. That is all. Video Credit: U.S. Army Pictorial Service (1944) & Remastered by 'Look In The Past.'

Now hear this! We are D-40 days until our next public event here in Central Florida; Volusia Valor Days in DeLand, FL May 4-5, 2024! Our team and partners are busy planning and working on event plans to make this a truly wonderful and memorable event for all those who attend. To accomplish this, we are honored to be joined by four outstanding authors and historians who will take to the WW2 Armor stage on Saturday May 4th and Sunday May 5th. Today, we are excited to announce our second special guest and speaker, Mr. Ryan Lowry. Ryan is an aspiring World War II artifact curator who is fresh off an exhibition his organization put on at the Museum Of Arts and Sciences - Daytona Beach. He manages his traveling museum through the company Patriot Preservation LLC and holds ~10,000 objects from World War II. He attends collector's shows around the country and has been active in World War II history for the last 18 years. He had the rare privilege to examine rare historical documents in the National Archives and met many World War II veterans who shared their stories with him before they passed. While in his master's degree program, his thesis was on the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal in the Far East. He has been invited as a member for various World War II veteran societies over the past ten years and volunteers his time assisting them in their community events. He has been entrusted with the safety of collections donated by families that contained artifacts of unparalleled rarity and historical value. It's his life's pursuit to save this collection for a permanent museum site and educate future generations about what our Greatest Generation accomplished. We are honored to have Mr. Lowry joining us for Volusia Valor Days as he will be adding some local flavor by teaching about World War II’s effect on the state of Florida. To learn more about Mr. Lowry and his historic preservation endeavors, we invite you to visit his website at https://lnkd.in/eYrAHyFe or on Facebook at Patriot Preservation Over the course of the next few weeks we will announce our additional two special guest speakers; so stay tuned! That is all.

Now hear this! Work continues here at WW2 Armor on our February 1943 built M10 Gun Motor Carriage (GMC) used by the U.S. Tank Destroyer Forces during World War II. Over the last year we re-configured it back to its original World War II configuration as it was heavily modified by the Israelis in the late 1950s as part of their M50 Program. As part of the program, the Israelis made numerous modifications and changes to the layout of the hull, gun, and turret which required extensive work to bring it back to its original World War II build. There are some bits on the hull from the Israeli experimental program we have opted to retain, but for the most part it's back to its original design. This week, our team installed the M10’s fuel and oil tanks, and began the electrical wiring for the vehicle electrical systems. The M10 had the fuel capacity of 165 gallons (620 liters) with an operational range of approximately 200 miles (320 kilometers). Yesterday, we installed a General Motors 6046 twin diesel engine after an extensive overhaul and services by our maintenance department. (the engine this particular piece came with) The 6046 twin diesel was capable of producing 375 horsepower at 2,100 rpms, and enabled the M10 to have a max speed of between 25 to 30 miles per hour (40 to 48 kilometers per hour). Once installed, our team then carefully and safely installed the M10’s turret and Mount M5 with the 3-inch gun M7 into the hull. It was a moment our team has been waiting for as there is something truly unique about the M10’s appearance. Even though it may look complete there is still much more work to be done, and we will keep you all posted as we progress. If you are interested in reading our research article published in July 2021 on the history of our M10 GMC we invite you to read it at this URL: https://lnkd.in/eYsVP3WZ... From our team here at WW2 Armor, we wish you all a wonderful weekend! That is all.